April Featured Instructor – Stephanie Inmon

Our featured instructor for the month of April is…. Stephanie Inmon!

Stephanie was last year’s guitar instructor and currently plays in the band, Queerodite from Denton Texas. Stephanie started playing guitar at the age of 19. Growing up, Stephanie played the piano, violin and had vocal lessons. They focused mostly on how to play scales, how to play bar chords, how to sweep so that they could write their own songs. “Guitar gave me a new outlet that opened up the various genres of rock to my compositional framework. My favorite style to play would be folk/fusion rock like Jeff Buckley or St. Vincent.”

With being a college student, Stephanie is not focused on certain brands of equipment. Stephanie states” Any equipment I can buy for a good deal, I will take it. I do sway towards Fender amps, Les Paul model electric guitars, and Takamine brand acoustic guitars.”

Stephanie has a wide-array of influences, but states its a hard question due to being influenced by every band.. “Growing up, my favorite genre was classic and alternative rock. I was really influenced by Freddie Mercury – as a recording artist, vocalist, composer, piano player, and performer. I also admired outspoken female singer songwriters like Avril Lavigne and P!nk, in their early careers, as well as Amy Lee and Regina Specktor. I was so inspired by how they challenged gender roles and patriarchal values. When I went to college, I immersed myself in folk/indie music, finding St. Vincent, Sarah Jaffe, Patty Griffin, Björk, Ra Ra Roit, Tender Forever and tons more. When I came into my identify as gender non-conforming, writing songs on guitar was a way to connect to this women’s musical consciousness – a way to add on to the vast sea of creation from my foremothers and forequeers.”

When asked what their favorite part of camp was, it was coaching the band, the Skull Angels! “The way they worked together to create such a uniquely mature song was so inspiring!

“…..The world was a flood, the fire dried the mud, the diamonds turned to dust, and the world ended with a THUD!” (“Firecracker”- Skull Angels)

When Stephanie isn’t buried in the books, or being challenged on the guitar, some of their other hobbies are playing other instruments, spending quality time with friends and reading fantasy fiction novels/graphic novels.

Stephanie’s favorite part of Girls Rock Dallas is “being able to work with and empower female identifying or gender non-conforming youth, I am absolutely grateful for befriending the people who volunteer for GRD. I have made lasting, supporting, affirming and honest connections in this organization.

Some advice Stephanie would give someone who is interested in playing music is “Don’t worry about the technical stuff – the written notation, the letter chord you are playing – that information will come with practice and familiarity. Right now, think of guitar chords as patterns and experiment with how each shape works together.”